UCI teaching assistants strike, claiming intimidation

April 3, 2014

Updated April 24, 2014 1:44 p.m.

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Teaching assistant Robert Wood participates in a protest by teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. Wood is also the campus unit chairman for their United Auto Workers chapter. The assistants and the union were protesting what they called unfair labor practices in their contract negotiations. They have been negotiating, without a contract, for almost a year. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Melinna Rivera writes "Strike Strike Strike" in chalk during a protest by teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. Rivera is a fifth-year senior. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Students change classes and pass by teaching assistants, tutors and their supporters who were protesting at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Graduate student Coral Wheeler chants slogans and marches during a protest at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Teaching assistants, tutors and their supporters chant slogans and march during a protest at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. The assistants and their union, the United Auto Workers, were protesting what they called unfair labor practices in their contract negotiations. They have been negotiating without a contract for almost a year. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Protesters march and chant slogans during a demonstration by teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Graduate student Coral Wheeler chants slogans and marches during a protest at the University of California, Irvine. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Passing students check out a protester at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Protesters listen to speakers during a demonstration by teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Teaching assistant Robert Wood participates in a protest by teaching assistants and tutors at the University of California, Irvine on Thursday. Wood is also the campus unit chairman for their United Auto Workers chapter. The assistants and the union were protesting what they called unfair labor practices in their contract negotiations. They have been negotiating, without a contract, for almost a year. PAUL BERSEBACH, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

What the union wants

The union representing some 12,000 teaching assistants, tutors and readers on UC campuses statewide, including about 3,000 at UC Irvine, has been negotiating for a new contract since July 2013. They are seeking:

• Smaller class sizes

• Higher wages

• Better child-care benefits

• A change to the cap in length of employment

“No more Mr. Nice Nerd.”

The slogan was among many printed on signs that striking UC Irvine grad students carried through campus Thursday, part of a strike led by several UC campuses this week.

Statewide, unionized teaching assistants and tutors have been negotiating a new labor contract with the University of California system since July 2013. They want higher wages and smaller class sizes, among other things. The next bargaining session is April 15-16.

Thursday, about 40 UC Irvine strikers singled out what they described as intimidation tactics by the university including emails that might dissuade them from striking and photos being taken of rally participants. A university representative said campus officials were well-versed in respecting the union’s rights.

“A strike will not resolve the issues that remain on the table. Instead, it unfairly hurts other students and their ability to achieve their academic goals,” UCI spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said. “UC remains committed to working through these issues.”

In mid-November, the administration’s graduate services department emailed student teachers individually, asking if each planned to miss work to strike on Nov. 20 in solidarity with UC Irvine’s hospital worker union. It noted “the Campus will not retaliate against you regardless of what you say or whether you decide not to respond. You are free to decide whether to work or not. While we sincerely hope that you choose to come to work during the strike, that decision is entirely up to you.”

The students who received it, though, didn’t feel so free.

David Wight, a teaching assistant with the history department who carried a sign that said “Don’t Mess with Historians. It’s our job to remember” said the email inspired him to join the strike Thursday.

“When I saw that email, it set me off,” he said. He doesn’t have any classes on Thursdays but told his students that he wouldn’t have any office hours and wouldn’t respond to email during the strike. It was “largely symbolic,” he said.

Andrea Milne, president of the university’s History Graduate Student Association, got the email, too, “and found it appalling.”

Allegations of intimidation have cropped up on other campuses. On Wednesday, police arrested 20 student strikers at UC Santa Cruz for blocking entrances on that campus, according to an Associated Press report. At UC Irvine, the police presence was light – surprising some of the strikers who said they’ve grown accustomed to police and the administration watching what they’re doing.

UC Irvine’s Assistant Police Chief Jeff Hutchison stood on the balcony of the university’s administration building, sometimes with a couple of other officers, watching the strike.

“We’re just here to protect their safety and protect everyone else,” he said, calling the observations standard protocol.

Hutchison said university officials have on occasion taken photos and videos of the union’s activities. “There’s no expectation of privacy in public,” he said.

While strikers circled and marched through the university, the campus’s Greeks and clubs recruited members. Groups of high school and international students also toured the campus.

Kim Kessler and her 16-year-old son, Andrew, were visiting from Los Angeles to look at the campus. They had expected a sterile, conservative vibe.

“We were excited to see freedom of speech represented,” she said. “We were really pleased they have that forum here.”

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